Elephant
by bikelock28
Summary: B/R drabble set between S4 and S5. "They're changing. They both know. This thing they're doing is becoming increasingly obvious; turning into something else. They're not admitting that, but they're letting it. At first it's little things, then physical, verbal- and then there are the big things,".
1. Them

**This started out as a new chapter of _Caught, _but then it developed into something else. The tone is a bit oddly detached, so I'd be interested to see what you all think. **

**PS- Unlike most of my stories, Ch2 is related to Ch1, so read both. Hope you enjoy. **

**Elephant**

Them

They're slipping. They both know. This game they're playing is becoming more and more obvious to the others, and they're letting it.

At first it's little things; knowing stuff about the other which Ted, Marshall and Lily don't.

"Where's Barney tonight?"

"It's Eli's birthday so he's gone to visit them,"

"I don't remember him mentioning that,"

_No, you don't, _she thinks, _because he told me in his bed yesterday morning when we were falling sleep together._

Sometimes it's moments which happen often, but a little differently nowadays.

"Barney, you've got lipstick on your neck," says Ted.

"Gross!" says Lily.

He smirks and rubs it off. It's not an uncommon scene between them- except this time Barney's smirk is because Lily and Ted haven't noticed that it's the lipstick Robin's wearing today.

And it's the glances; the prolonged eye contact; the simultaneous reaching for their beer bottles. The fact that over the last few weeks, his gaze has been less and less focussed on the blondes entering McLaren's, and more and more at the woman sitting in the booth beside him. Sometimes it seems to Lily that Barney and Robin are in a bad mood with one another- which doesn't make sense because surely meeting at MacLaren's is the first time the two of them have seen each other today. Lily doesn't know that they've been bickering in the morning and in phone calls throughout the day. Likewise, sometimes the pair of them seem cheerful and jokey with each other, and they have a story which happened to them both- the others are confused about when it happened. Robin laughs more at his jokes. He holds doors open for her.

It starts out as little things.

* * *

Then there's the physical; she collapses into Barney when she laughs; he puts his hand on the small of Robin's back when they're leaning on the bar. Once or twice, Wendy might have caught them holding hands under the table. They've sat on the same side of the booth for months now, but recently they've been sitting closer than before, legs pressed against one another's'. Sometimes when he stretches his arm around the back of the seat, it's almost as if he's draping it around her. Sometimes she'll straighten his tie or grab his wrist or smooth her hands over his shoulders. Sometimes even in public they barely manage to keep action above the waist…but that was inevitable.

* * *

Then it's the excuses; getting more elaborate, less plausible. Truthfully, it's a game they have between them; seeing who can get away with the most ridiculous reason for leaving the bar early.

"See you tomorrow- there's a new make-up girl who I have to show around before tomorrow's report,"

or

"Gotta go, guys- I've got that crash course in Ukrainian,"

or

"I'm visiting my dogs,"

or

"I'm visiting the Stinson family tomb,"

or

"I've got a date…yes Ted, I know it's been three weeks, but I want to wait a month before I introduce him to you guys…yes Ted, I know you know that we didn't wait a month for other stuff,"

or

"Lindsay just texted me, she's bored and lonely; my favourite mood …yes Lily, they do ask me back…because I'm that awesome…ha, we'll try it sometime and you'll see,"

The others give them funny looks, ask questions, roll their eyes. Ted is confused when Robin comes home very late at night or, early in the morning on the nights when she hasn't supposedly been on a date. By nature he's a digger for information, so her answers to him have to become increasingly creative. As the Summer goes on he becomes pre-occupied with preparing for the start of term, and too busy to ask questions, but the excuses are getting wilder so it can't be long until he'll catch them out.

* * *

And then there are the big things. Obvious. Unavoidable.

Marshall finds Robin hanging around in Barney's office.

Disappearing in the bar together for twenty minutes or so.

The times when she comes home smelling of him.

Littered around the apartment one Saturday morning, Ted finds socks which aren't his own. He'd know from the plush silkiness whose socks they were, even if the ankles weren't emblazoned with _BS. _He wonders what the hell Barney's socks are doing in his apartment, and tries to think of a reason to dismiss it. He can't.

* * *

They can't keep this up forever. Perhaps it'll be one little thing too many that one of the gang will pick up on, or perhaps it'll be when Ted or Lily finally call them out on their excuses, that Barney and Robin's secret relationship will be unmasked (but without the secret it's a…). Perhaps they'll get caught by _literally_ getting caught in the act (okay that does sound hot). Perhaps one of the big things will blow it all.

Whatever it is, however they get caught, they both know that the catch is coming- and they're not trying to stop it.


	2. Us

Us

They're changing. They both know. This thing they're doing is turning into something else, and they're not admitting that, but they're letting it happen.

At first its little things. Knowing stuff about each other; she prefers strawberry ice cream to chocolate so he buys it in. Going out to clubs. Hanging at his apartment alone together: watching TV; reading the newspapers; laughing at cat videos on Youtube with her elbow resting on his shoulder as they hunch over the laptop. Letting the odd "baby" slip into conversation. He tries to cheer her up when she has a bad day. Shooting jealous glares if they see the other one flirting with somebody else. He helps her zip up her dress in the morning. She does his tie for him. His usual table at the cigar bar gains a permanent second chair.

At first it's little things.

* * *

Then it's the physical. Pecking his cheek in greeting whenever they meet each other alone. Playing with each other's fingers under the table. Fiddling with his lapels. Waking up with tangled ankles and her breath tickling his chest and chin. Momentarily breaking a kiss to stroke his cheekbone with her thumb. Gently running his fingers through her hair while she sucks him off.

Of course, their sex is never going to feel like sun rising over a sleepy field- but it feels different to how it has with other people; different to how it used to feel between them. Neither of them dwell on it enough to verbalise (Barney doesn't understand it and shoves it to the back of his mind), but it feels…closer. She tells herself that it's always like this- the more two people do it, the better they become at responding to each other's bodies and learning what the other person likes; becoming a joint act- not just one person fucking the other. It's just an inevitable development for any two people who've had sex more than a couple of times. That's what she tells herself, though she knows it's something more.

* * *

They talk to each other differently. Their friendly chit-chat remains, though they bicker less (fight more) and ask each other casual-but-important questions (often Barney can't help but tell the truth back. At times it doesn't even _occur_ to New York's biggest pathological liar to fib to her. That's the scariest part). Of course they still tease and banter and mock each other, but now they joke_ together_ about others: Ted's obsessions, taxi drivers' rudeness, Mrs Sumner's disapproving glares at them in the corridor. They have their own ways of affectionately irritating each other, but often it feels like the two of them giggling together at the silliness of rest of the world.

* * *

And then there are the big things.

Dinner. Dates. Muttered _I-love-you_s_. _Calling him at lunchtime. Calling her in the morning when he knows she'll be on her way home from work (Robin never asks him what he's doing up at this time. The answer scares her, and not just because it could be some illegal). He reserves a room in a classy Soho hotel for an afternoon, pretending it's for a change and so they can add some spice- but they both know that if it was just for sex, even _Barney_ wouldn't spend this much money on a girl. Casual mentioning of future events; nothing concrete, but vague discussions of upcoming films they'd like to see, restaurants they might go to, areas of Greenwich Village they should one day check out. There's always a mutually understood, jointly awkward pause which follows these admissions, but they've both got good at hurrying the conversation on.

Sleepy afterglow talks at 3am.

"Where d'you get that scar on your eyebrow?"

"What's the most trouble you've ever been in?"

"Red M&Ms or blue M&Ms?"

"Okay, I admit it; I sometimes watch Dancing With The Stars,"

He knows that this isn't what he does; that's it's breaking his rules- but he pushes those rules to the back of his mind and ignores the voice inside which keeps asking what the hell he thinks he's doing. She, likewise, tells herself the friends-with-benefits story- and turns down the volume on the voice which scoffs that that story's a lie.

But the big things are getting bigger, and those voices are getting louder, and the questions those voices are asking are becoming more important and urgent. There are so many elephants in the room that they're running out of space to breathe.

* * *

One morning they wake up together on his couch, stiff limbs entangled. The TV's still on- and she realises that they must have fallen asleep like this. On the couch, with pizza boxes on the floor, without having had sex beforehand. Barney swallows, cracks a few vague jokes then dashes off for a shower- and it's is never mentioned again. Silently, however, they know that's it's changed them. It's one of the moments- little, physical, verbal, big- which steepen the slope that they're sliding down together.

Neither of them knows what's there, but it won't be long before they reach the ground.

**Thanks so much for reading. I'm really excited to know what you thought, so please review! Thanks again.**


End file.
